


Sunsets and Stars

by Fitzfire



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Bullying, Canon Compliant, Gen, Major Character Injury, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-21
Updated: 2017-02-04
Packaged: 2018-09-19 02:32:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9414164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fitzfire/pseuds/Fitzfire
Summary: It's been a month since Mikasa had come to live with the Yeagers, and yet she still wouldn't get out of bed. Eren liked the sunset, maybe she would too. Maybe if he got her out to see it, she'd stop crying.





	1. The Sun

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this in response to two commonly held beliefs in the fandom that I don't think make very much sense. I don't believe Mikasa magically got over seeing her parents' murder because of the formation of her Ackerbound. I also don't believe Mikasa and Armin became fast friends. The story will end with the EMA we all know and love, but the beginning is going to a be rockier.

“How long until Sunset?”

Armin was laying on his back and staring up at the sky. “An hour and a half,” he mumbled, eyes fluttered closed and open again. He’d probably been up late reading.

Eren shifted from foot to foot, inching to move. “So we should start down soon!”

Armin didn’t move. Eren had the urge to poke his friend with his foot. Just a little nudge, to get him moving. But that was the kind of thing his mom would get all bent out of shape about for no reason, so he stopped himself. The thing was Armin hadn’t moved for ten minutes and that was a little scary. Eren kept imaging that someone had broken his legs or smashed in his knee caps.

“She’s not going to come.”

“Yes she is!” Eren stamped his foot in rage and stomped away from Armin. He plopped down a little ways off and crossed his arms. He stared out into the middle distance like his dad always did, pointedly ignored Armin.

“Eren.” Armin sounded annoyed. Armin shouldn’t be allowed to be annoyed, Eren hadn’t done anything wrong!

Armin finally moved. Eren felt the other boy brush against him. Armin hugged his knees to his chest, staring off somewhere far beyond the middle distance. Eren didn’t care, he was still ignoring Armin. He thought briefly about getting up and sitting somewhere else on the hill, just to prove a point.

“She didn’t want to come yesterday, or the day before. Why should today be any different?”

“Because it will.”

Armin was quiet for another long moment, but then Eren felt him breathe in deep and let the air out in an exaggerated sigh.

“Fine.”

Eren stopped ignoring him then and jumped up. He wanted to run home as fast as he could, but he knew if he took off too fast, Armin wouldn’t be able to catch up. So he started to walk slowly, painfully slowly, alongside his friend.

“If she doesn’t want to see it-“

“She does!”

They didn’t say anything.

Armin started shuffling his feet. “But if she doesn’t-”

“I just told you!” Eren had to slow down even more to keep from leaving Armin behind.

Armin’s shoulders hunched away from Eren, and his eyes on the ground. Eren realized he had been shouting and he felt a flush of shame. He pushed it away.

“I just don’t see why it matters it if _she’s_ there.”

Eren shoved his hands in his pockets. Armin’s voice was mean. Armin was never mean. Not, even when his face was beaten up and his books were muddy and unreadable. As soon as they were alone, Armin would smile again. But when Eren looked at him now, he was frowning down in into the dirt.

But Eren’s house was ahead, so he pushed those thoughts away. He grabbed Armin’s hand and half dragged him toward the front steps.

When they barged in together, Eren’s father slammed his book shut. He tucked it into the inside of his coat quicker than Armin did when his parents caught him with books about the outside world.

“Eren!” he called.

“Hey dad!” Eren called, paying no attention as he rushed through the living room.

Armin stopped and dug his heels in. Eren turned around in annoyance. Armin dropped his hand.

“You go in by yourself. She likes you better than me.”

“That’s because you’ve never introduced yourself!”

Armin didn’t say anything for a long while, then simply turned back into the living room. Looked like Armin was the one ignoring him now. He hopped onto the chair next to Eren’s dad.

“What were you reading?” Armin asked, unable to muster any real interest into his voice.

“Oh nothing really, just military politics in the interior.” That sounded exactly like the kind of thing Armin would have absolutely no interest. Armin would be polite, sure, but then he’d come back with Eren. But then Armin asked his father how he was enjoying it. Like he cared!

Eren felt a little bit abandoned, and a little bit jealous that Armin would rather hang around his dad instead of him. But there were other things to worry about right then.

He walked to the end of the hallway and didn’t hesitate, bursting through the door that lead to the spare room.

Mikasa lay boneless and limp under the covers. A small girl on a small bed far away on the opposite side of the room. She laid half on her back, her head lulled to the side. He could see her eyes, gray and lifeless. Her hair hung all in her face but she couldn’t be bothered to care enough to brush it away. She didn’t seem to care about anything. It didn’t look like she’d moved at all since that morning when he’d brought her breakfast.

“Hey Mikasa,” Eren said, suddenly his stomach was all knotted up. He wanted to leave again.

She blinked slowly, eyes flitted toward him. “What is it.” It wasn’t even a question, her voice didn’t sound like anything.

“Armin and I are going to see the sunset again.”

“Okay.”

Eren’s excitement only lasted for a moment before he realized Mikasa had only been acknowledging his statement.

He swallowed and said, “you should come with us. To see it.”

“I’d rather not.” Mikasa’s eyes drifted away.

Eren ran his tongue across his teeth, giving himself a second to think of what to say. His mother said that yelling didn’t make other people want to do what you asked them to. Most of the time it didn’t matter because nobody paid any attention to him anyway, and yelling was the only way to get them to listen. Mikasa wasn’t paying attention to him now, even when he was standing ahead of her in the too small room. Eren wanted her to listen but found himself afraid that if he did raise his voice, he’d somehow knock down all the walls of his house.

So, instead, he tried to think up nice things to say. “It’s really pretty, though. Armin says you probably didn’t get to see a sunset in the forest.” The only light in the room filtered in through the window behind the bed, and all it really did was throw shadows all the way to the door.

When Mikasa turned her face into the pillows, the shadows mixed into her black hair and they fell even further onto her face. She started curling in on herself, bunching the sheets in her hands and between her legs.

“That’s not true,” came that thin and broken voice of hers.

“What?” Eren voice shattered through the small room. He flinched and she flinched and she pulled the covers closer.

“You could see the sunset through the trees.”

“Well, it's different here.”

“Maybe,” she didn’t say it like she thought the difference was a good thing.

“Then let’s see it.”

“I’d rather not.”

“Armin’s waiting for you.”

“Armin doesn’t like me.”

“You haven’t even met Armin!”

“He hates me.”

“No he doesn’t!” Somehow he’s begun to shout.

Mikasa raised a hand as if to protect her ears. That pissed Eren off. He stomped up toward her.

“You’re getting up.”

“Eren. No,” she command, like she was his mother or something. That pissed Eren off too.

He tried to rip her covers away but she held fast. They struggled for a moment and, even though Eren had better leverage, he couldn’t get it out of her hands. She was a lot stronger and that only pissed him off more. If she was so strong, why couldn’t she get out of bed?

Eren let go in frustration. “Why won’t you just get up?” He kicked the edge of the bed. It hurt him, but the bed wasn’t any worse for wear. He couldn’t do anything. “You’re just lying there like a dead person. You are breathing and crying like you’re alive but you dead!” He stopped himself from saying, _just like your parents,_ but he thought she’d heard it anyway.

Mikasa threw the blankets at him. He fell over, but he shoved them to the side in haste. He looked up at the girl. And, just for a moment, Eren thought he’d finally gotten through to her. But when he looked closer, he could see her jaw was set and her eyes were trained forward. Her eyes were full now, not empty, and the fullness of her eyes started to spill out over her cheeks.

Eren wanted to punch something. Why was it that everything he tried was so utterly pointless?

When Armin cried it was usually because the bigger kids had been picking on him. Usually, all it took was some inane question about the outside world and Armin would lose himself in thought. Eren had tried asking Mikasa about what she thought about the outside world, but she hadn’t ever responded. Then maybe, he thought, Mikasa was more like his mom. Eren’s mom liked to talk about her family’s tavern and the house she grew up in. So Eren asked Mikasa about her old home. That had been worse. She usually just cried more.

Eren liked watching the sunset. He liked thinking about how the sun shined over the entire world, not just the world that was behind the walls. The way Eren saw it, every place that shared the same sky was the same world. His world. That made him happy.

Now, if he could just get her out of bed, and show her, and explain it to her, she’d understand. Then she wouldn’t cry anymore.

“You’re dead!” he accused.

“I’m not.”

“You’re dead if you can’t get up.”

“Stop!” Mikasa muffled her cry into the pillow

“You’re dead,” _just like your parents_

“Stop!” Mikasa screamed, throwing the pillow at him with such force that Eren fell to the ground again.

“Get up!” he was screaming now as if he weren’t the one lying on the floor.

“Eren!!” That was his mother’s voice. Of course she was here! Of course! And now she would yell at him for not being nice! But she didn’t understand! He’d been nice yesterday and the day before and it hadn’t done any good.

She stormed in, grabbed one of his ears, and hauled him out of the room.

“What do you think you’re doing?” she was furious. Still, she wiping at his face tenderly. “You’re crying.”

“No, _she’s_ crying,” his voice was high and squeaky. Armin and his father were standing in the background. Eren didn’t look at them. He didn’t like it when Armin and especially his father saw him weeping.

“What are you thinking? Talking to your sister like that?”

“She’s not my sister!” he was still shouting. Probably still crying too.

Eren’s mother twisted his ear again. He let out a howl, more indigence than pain.

She leaned down and stared Eren right in the eyes, wiping away more of the tears. “Mikasa is going through a very tough time in her life now. It’s your job as her brother to try and help her through it.”

“I am!”

“And you think telling her that she’s dead is help?” her voice said like he was stupid.

“I’m trying! But how can she get over it if she just lays in bed and cries all day??”

“Eren!”

“It’s true! She doesn’t eat, she doesn’t sleep! You don’t sleep in the room next to her! She cries all night and I can’t sleep.”

“Your sleep schedule isn’t the important thing here.” She wasn’t disappointed anymore, she was angry.

“She needs to get up!”

“And she will when she’s ready.” Eren’s father decided that this was the appropriate time to step in.

“How do you know?”

His father just smiled.

Eren shrugged his mother off. “We’re going!” he said, motioning to Armin.

“Eren!” His mother shouted, reaching out to catch him. He slipped through her fingers.

Eren’s parents were watching their son run out the door and Eren couldn’t see anything through his tears. It was only Armin who saw Mikasa, standing barefoot, watching from behind her door. She met Armin’s eyes for just a moment.

Armin turned his back

He didn’t tell Eren what he’d seen.

They didn’t stop running until they were in their clearing. As they stood, facing west, they realized in relief they hadn’t missed a thing. They plopped down next to each other. Armin seemed happier, but Eren’s mood was foul.

The sky was pretty, Eren supposed, prettier than the two days before. He decided right then that he didn’t like how the walls seemed to eat up the sun. Maybe the sun didn’t shine over the rest of the world, maybe just inside the walls. Maybe it was just an extension of the wall themselves. Maybe the sun was just a huge lamp, one that was created every day to rise and fall, turned on and off. Was the sky just a ceiling? A wall?  Just another illusion? A beautiful illusion?

Wait no, how could the Survey Corps see out on their expeditions if the sun didn’t exist?

Maybe they couldn’t, but they were afraid if they told anyone, the royal government would put an end to their expeditions.

Eren didn’t want to look at it, in fact, he hated it. But he couldn’t go back home. So he just laid down on the grass and listened to Armin talk about the book he was reading. About endless fields of sand and rolling hills and wind storms that made dust clouds so thick, you couldn’t see through them. For once, Eren didn’t care about any of it. He closed his eyes because he didn’t want to see the walls or the sky or Armin’s stupid smiling face.

“I don’t understand.” came a small voice

Eren opened his eyes. He sat up fast. He looked behind him.

She stood in her nightgown, a white dress all wrinkly from continuous wear. Her face was buried in his scarf. Her eyes were on Armin’s, paying neither Eren nor the sky, any attention at all.

“How can there only be sand? Where is everything else?”

Armin hesitated, gazing at her warily at first, but then his excitement got the better of him. He loved explaining things, especially about what lie on the other side of the walls. A new audience was all the more entertaining, he could retell everything again! Mikasa stood, a little apart, as Armin launched into another one of his long-winded explanation about the worlds he’d read about in his books. She didn’t interrupt him while he was speaking. When he finished, though, she still had questions.

“But if there’s nothing to eat, nowhere to sleep, no water or people, why do you want to go there?”

“To see it!” Eren broke into the conversation. “We don’t want to live there.”

“Then why go?”

“Because they belong to us!”

“Why do you want to own sand?” Mikasa's voice was dead, her words not even a real question. She thought they were stupid, just like everyone else did.

“It isn’t about sand!” He kicked at the ground, trying to expel his anger without hitting something. Eren’s mother always got angry at him when he broke things when he was upset.

“Why die over sand?”

Eren’s gaze shot to Armin, he’d know what to say. But Armin had a mean look on his face, the kind of look adults gave Eren when he talked for too long.

Eren pointed at the walls. “You missed the sunset,” he accused.

Mikasa wrapped her arms around herself and sniffled into his scarf. “I don’t care.”

“You’d be able to see it if the walls weren’t here.” Eren snapped.

 

* * *

 

 

It occurred to Armin first.

The lands inside the Shingashina district were almost entirely flat. None of the hills were high enough to see beyond the wall. This had always a point of annoyance for the two boys, and because of it, Eren had always assumed that they’d eventually have to go outside the gates in order to see anything important.

But if they could climb to the top of the walls, they’d be able to see something.

They’d spent weeks planning.

Eren was rather proud of his parents. If his mother knew, she wouldn’t berate him ever again for his hastiness. Unfortunately, Eren couldn’t ever tell his mother under any circumstances. His father, maybe, but Eren’s mom wouldn’t understand.

He’d spent the better part of two weeks sucking up to Hannes. Every time he wanted to punch the old drunk man in the face he smiled instead. Armin tagged along as often as possible to do the kind of sweet talking Eren just couldn’t wrap his head around. Eren even got Mikasa to join them, occasionally, when she made it out of bed. Hannes liked her, thought she was tough because, apparently, she was handling the death of her parents very well. Stupid Hannes. He wouldn’t say that if he saw how Mikasa still cried every night.

Every night.

Surely she should feel better by now? Eren’s mother said these things took time, but how long was that? Would she be crying forever, and all the while Hannes would be drunk and laughing on duty like always? Why did someone people get to laugh when others could do nothing but cry?

Stupid Hannes.

Eren had suggested letting Mikasa in on their plan, but Armin had refused outright. Armin said Mikasa didn’t care about the outside world, and therefore would probably tell on them. Armin was usually right about these things. Still, he felt rotten every time Mikasa asked why he was being so nice to Hannes. She knew he was up to something, eyed Armin suspiciously whenever his back was turned.

Armin decided they’d try on the Saturday afternoon at the end of the month. The other boy’s parents usually went to bed early those nights. His grandfather, who was supposed to be babysitting the blonde boy, instead, usually got drunk early on weekends. As drunk as Hannes. In addition, one of the ladies at the market had said the only clouds in the sky would be whips, and that they’d reflect the colorful light back down to earth. Armin wanted to see the sunset. Somehow it had become their thing. Armin said the sun would set later when they watched from the top of the walls rather than when they looked on from inside them.

Maybe Mikasa would care this time. The sky had prettier from up that high. They’d be like birds, flying wherever they pleased and seeing whatever they wanted. Maybe if she saw it, she’d stop crying.

But Armin said. “I told you it’s not a good idea!”

Armin launched into a lengthy explanation that Eren had not interest in listening to, especially because Armin was lying. Armin didn’t like Mikasa. He just didn’t. He never wanted to include her anything and was always shooting mean looks over in her direction. What had Mikasa had done?

So Eren asked, “why don’t you like Mikasa?”

Armin stopped midsentence. “She’s fine.”

“You’re lying! You don’t like her.”

Armin shrugged. “She just like everyone else, not like us. She’s livestock,” he explained. “She wants to be happy inside the walls. She doesn’t want to see anything. She doesn’t care about being free.”

“Livestock?” Eren had never thought of it like that.

But that wasn’t it, Armin still looked embarrassed.

“What?” Eren asked

“Well, it’s just that she’s your sister now,” he said quietly.

So? Did Armin want a sister?

“You’re my family too!” Eren said, struggling for something that would cheer his friend up. “You’re like my brother.”

Armin’s eyes lit up, and he smiled as wide as he did when he read books. Eren was slightly confused, though. Didn’t Armin want a sister? Not a brother? Wouldn’t it have been better if Mikasa had said she was Armin’s sister? But he didn’t seem to want anything to do with Mikasa.

Armin had stopped in the middle of the road and was staring at Eren intently. “So if I’m your brother, and she’s your sister, who do you like better?”

Eren was bewildered. Obviously he liked Armin better, he’d only met Mikasa a month ago and she never plaid with him. Plus she was a girl. But wouldn’t it be mean to say that he didn’t like Mikasa? Eren had accused his mom only days before of liking Mikasa better because she got her stew served to her in bed, while his mom made him sit at the table. But Eren’s mom had said she loved both of her children equally. That didn’t make sense. She’d known Eren longer, so she had to love him more. But maybe that’s just what people said in order to make other people feel better. His mother always talked about trying to say things that made other people feel better.

“I like both of you the same!” Eren said confidently, pleased with himself for coming up with the right answer.

Armin’s face fell. But why? Eren couldn’t think of a reason. Armin was always so much smarter than Eren, he could always tell what Eren was thinking. Maybe that’s what it was. He probably knew that Eren was lying and was mad about it. But Armin had been lying to him earlier too! How was that fair? Armin was just backing him into a trap so everything he said was wrong. It wasn’t nice when Armin lorded his intelligence over everyone. At least Mikasa didn’t do that. Maybe he did like Mikasa better!

“But-“

“Why do you care?” Eren snapped.

Armin looked down at the ground, then turned away and kept walking. Eren followed, crossed arms pressed tightly to his chest.

Armin led them around to a couple different Garrison checkpoints. Once they found Hannes, they’d ask him to bring them up to the top of the walls. Armin was going to be smart, lording his intelligence over everyone, and convince Hannes. Eren was going to keep quiet because, apparently, he’d just ruin everything if he opened his mouth.

But when they found him at one of the northern checkpoints, Hannes wasn’t very drunk. When Hannes wasn’t very drunk he was smarter, which meant he was less likely to take the boys where they wanted to go. Armin put in a valiant effort, regardless, but Hannes wasn’t interested in listening. He just kept saying no, and Eren began to feel the lingering hotness, smoldering in the pit of his stomach since his fight with Armin, spark up again and grow. Hannes got to climb up on the walls every day, and he didn’t care at all for the outside world! So why couldn’t they see it, just once?

Armin’s voice was starting to sound desperate, and Eren knew he should be quiet, but he couldn’t help muttering something mean under his breath. Armin turned and sent Eren a baleful glance. So what, he was still mad? Why? Eren hadn’t done anything. But Hannes was distracted. He was looking over the tops of their heads.

“Mikasa!” Hannes exclaimed. “You’re out of bed.” Eren turned back and saw the girl bundled up in a white jacket and a pink one underneath. She was still wearing his scarf.

Mikasa paid little attention to the man’s comment. “What are you guys doing here?” she Eren and Armin.

Remembering what Armin had said, he balled his hands into fists. “None of your business.” He wasn’t looking at her. What if she figured it out? What if she told?

“They want to go up on the top of the wall,” Hannes announced, gesturing to the two boys. The two other garrison soldiers mulling about stopped and glanced at Hannes in surprise. Blood rushed to Eren’s cheeks when heard them start to chuckle.

It was all Mikasa fault! Eren was seething. His head shot up and he glared across the cobblestone road at her.

“Yeah! We do!” he shouted “Because we aren’t Livestock like you!” he pointed to Mikasa. “And you!” he jerked his hand toward Hannes. “And you! And you!” he turned and gestured at the other soldiers. Eren felt tears pricking at his eyes but he ignored them. He wasn’t going to cry.

“Eren!” Armin shouted.

He felt a yank at the back of his shirt. He tried to shake off the grip, but he couldn’t get any leverage. His heels were dragging uselessly on the ground, his calves almost scrapping the cobles.  The front of his shirt was taught against his neck and the uncomfortable pressure was making breathing difficult. Still, he screamed in frustration and tried to twist around and shove the person away. His attacker didn’t even seem to notice. A few moments more and he was thrown forward. Eren crashed into the side of a building.

“Eren!” it was Armin’s voice. Eren opened his eyes and saw his friend rushing toward him, a horrified expression on his face. Eren looked up and saw Mikasa standing above him as impassive as ever.

“You’re mean!” Armin shouted, running up right in front of Mikasa. “You’re mean and lazy, and Eren tries to do nice things for you and all you do is ignore him!” Armin was crying now. “I hate you!” he shrieks.

Mikasa didn’t react. It was almost like she hadn’t heard him. She wasn’t really looking at Eren anymore either. There was something in the distance, just out of sight, that only she knew was there. The silence that followed was unbearable. They stared at Mikasa and she stared at nothing. Hannes and the two other garrison soldiers stared at them. They were laughing. Eren couldn’t stand it.

He pointed west, and it occurred to him that pointing was all he’d been able to do. Mikasa was strong and Armin was smart and what was Eren?

He kept pointing anyway. “The sun is setting.”

Armin’s eyes followed his friend’s finger. “It is.”

Mikasa just kept staring, eyes not making it over the wall.

“Mikasa!”

Her gaze flitted toward him. But Eren didn’t have anything to say.

“It’d pretty” She pulled her scarf up over her mouth, she hadn’t even looked at it.

Eren didn’t get it. He didn’t get her. She seemed almost incapable of being happy, like one of those stone statues he’d seen in drawings of the capital city. The Fritz kings and their legendary generals stood impassive, looking out at something only they could see. Eren had always imagined that being remembered like that had to be terrible.

Nobody erected statues of soldiers in the Survey Corps, but Eren thought if ever they did, they’d be screaming. Their voice would be different, pitch ringing with pride, or hope, or rage, but they would all scream. Because they believed in something, and they died defiant.

Did Mikasa believe in anything?

She was still looking at him

“I’m hungry. Let’s go home.” Eren announced.

“Let’s go home.” she repeated.


	2. The Rain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Drama in my life has been way too high key. My responce? Writing nine year olds with constipated feelings.

“It’s raining outside.” Eren said, looking out the window.

Mikasa nodded, hugging her legs to her chest. She was propped up against the wall, staring out at nothing again. She hadn’t gotten out of bed yet and it was already midday. At least she wasn’t laying under the covers. At least she wasn’t crying.

“Do you want to go outside?” Eren asked, trying to force his voice into some semblance of softness. Eren’s mother had told him he should _ask_ other people for he wanted instead of ordering them around.

“It's cold out there.” Not an outright refusal.

“You can put a coat on, plus you have the scarf.” She’d never given it back, but Eren’s mother had bought him a new one so he just let her keep it.

She pulled the scarf over her mouth.

“That will keep you warmer!” he said.

“I know.” she said, voice muffled, and then she pulled it down again.

Mikasa looked up at him, and she even smiled a little bit. That was kind of weird. Eren couldn't remember ever seeing her do that before. It didn’t look like his mother’s, she had a wide smile and she’d show her teeth more often than not. It was more like his dad’s, small, like a little secret shared between the two of them. It was weird, but Eren decided that he liked it.

Eren jumped off the bed. “It’ll be fun!”

Mikasa followed, sliding off the bed. Eren hurried towards the door, afraid that if they waited any longer, Mikasa would change her mind. He grabbed her coats and then his mother's and wrapped both around Mikasa. Her smile started to reach her eyes as she hugged the fabric around her. Eren snatched at his own coat and threw it on over, then wrapped his own black scarf around his neck. He grabbed her hand and drug her down the hallway.

“Where are you going?” Eren’s mother asked. His father didn’t seem to be home.

“Out!” Eren usually didn’t like telling his mother exactly what he was doing. Whenever he did, she could usually find something she didn’t approve of in his plans.

“In this weather?” her voice was disproval, like always. But then she saw Mikasa trailing behind. She didn’t say anything after that. His mother really let Mikasa do anything she wanted. Usually it was completely unfair but this time it worked in Eren’s favor. He really should get Mikasa to tag along more often.

It really was raining hard, but it was a summer’s rain. It washed the sweat off his face and he didn’t need to shiver. The air was warm and heavy, the unpleasant odors of the dense town were replaced by the clean smell that always came along with a storm.

Once they were out of sight, Eren shrugged off his jacket and let the rain soak through his shirt. He laughed up at the sky, closing his eyes. He liked how the water ran through his hair and made his clothes cling to his body like a second skin.

He turned to Mikasa. She was already looking back. “You should take off your jackets too. It feels nice.” So Mikasa did, stripping off both coats and then even his scarf, wrapping it carefully inside both coats. She hugged them to her chest and looked up the way Eren had, but he doubted she could see anything. Her hair was plastered to her face. She looked kind of stupid, trying to scrape her thick hair out of her eyes. He laughed again.

She was finally able to push her hair out of her face. She didn’t seem worried about how it bunched up and fell awkwardly behind her head the way only soaked hair could. She was looking up, searching for something in the sky, but water kept falling in her eyes and wiping it away only made it worse.

Eren was still holding her hand, so he tugged her toward him. “Come on!” excitement laced in his voice. He started jogging forward again.

They stopped in the nearest clearing of grasses. The ditches, about two feet deep, ran along the side of the road, collecting water. The dirt on each side of the street had long since turned to mud. Before, Eren had just been dragging Mikasa out aimlessly, in search of something fun to do. Now he had an idea.

He dragged Mikasa up to the ditch and plopped down next to it. He slipped off his shoes and threw them over to the side farthest away from the road. Then he slid into the hole. The moist ground skewed under his feet and Eren giggled. He shifted from foot to foot, watching the water leach out of the soil and run over his feet.

If Eren had been afraid Mikasa was the kind of girl who’d be afraid of bugs and a little bit of dirt. He’d have been relieved to see her copying Eren’s actions.

She’d landed squarely, but, in the process, her feet had sunk in so far into the mud that her ankles weren’t visible. Mikasa stared down at herself for a second, then looked up at Eren. “I’m stuck,” she said, mystified. But then her forehead creased in frustrated when she realized she didn’t know how to free herself. She visibly tried to yank one of her feet out of the ground, but she lost her balance and had to throw out a hand to steady herself against the side of the ditch.

Eren laughed again. “Here, I’ll help you.” He reached out to grab her under her arms, but before he could start pulling, she thrust out her shoes into his face.

“But these on the side first.”

“What’s the magic word?”

She stared at him like he’d grown three heads.

Eren snatched them away, then flung them over the side. Of course she wouldn’t get his jokes. Her shoes landed next to his.

He stepped closer and tried hooked his arms around her armpits again. He heaved as hard as he could. It was working! She was coming up out of the ground! He pulled harder.

“Eren I’m-“ she shouted in alarm. They lost their balance and toppled backward. Eren let out an “ouf” as his back sank into the mud. Mikasa landed on top of him.

“Are you okay?” Mikasa asked.

“I’m fine!”

She lifted off him and plopped down on her butt, crossing her legs. “Your shirt is ruined. Mother is going to be angry.”

“So is yours!”

“Not as badly.”

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll handle her,” he said in a surly tone. Then he paused. “Why did you call her mother?” He wrinkled his nose.

‘She told me to.”

“She told you to call her mother?” He gave her his most skeptical stare.

“She told me to call her mom but I’ve already had a mom.”

He supposed that made sense. But hearing his mom referred to as mother was just weird.

“You’re not going to start calling dad ‘father’ are you?”

“I’ve already had a father, your dad will be dad if he asks me to call him that.”

Thank god for small miracles.

He scrambled up on his knees. “We’re going to play a game!” he said, grabbing a handful of mud from the side of the ditch and throwing it on the mucky surface in front of him. “We are going to make castles!”

“Castles?” she echoed.

“There are like houses, but bigger.”

“We are going to build castles bigger than houses.” She pointed behind her at the houses across the street.

“Obviously not!” Eren rolled his eyes. ‘They are going to be small castles.”

“Small castles that are smaller than houses.”

“Holy crap Mikasa! They’re for small people!”

“Small castles made out of mud for little imaginary people.” Mikasa nodded, accepting this. She took a handful of mud from the side of the ditch, just like Eren had done, and dumped in front of her.

They shoveled mud into the bottom of the ditch until they’d made two huge mounds that looked nothing like the castle’s in Armin’s books.

Eren looked proudly up at his creation. He couldn’t see Mikasa over their two castles, but he knew she was there. “Who do you think lives here?” he raised his voice a few octaves so she could here in through the rain.

Mikasa was silent for a moment. “Two royal families.” She shouted back. He hadn’t known her voice could get so loud.

“They’re at war!”

“They used to be at war. Now to make peace, the oldest daughter from mine and the oldest son from yours are to be married.” Eren crawled into the space between their two castles. “Come on in between!” he yelled. Mikasa crawled out too.

“The wedding will take place here!” Eren announced.

Mikasa used her fingers to create two lines parallel to their castles. “This is the isle,” she said. Her isle was soon obscured by falling raindrops.

“Here!” Eren stuck up this thumb and put his fist where he thought the beginning to Mikasa’s isle had been. “This is Earl. He’s the oldest son.”

Mikasa stuck up her own thumb and slowly moved it along the ground toward Eren’s thumb. “This is Rika. She’s the princess.”

When Mikasa’s thumb was only inches away from Eren’s, he swung his other hand and slapped at Mikasa’s thumb. “It’s an assassin!” he shouted “You’re dead!”

“No, I’m not. Rika is a warrior princess, the best in both kingdoms. She kills the assassin.”

“Ahhhh, boooooosh.” Eren made sound effects as their hands fought and Eren’s inevitably slammed into the mud, sending splatters in all directions.

“Your prince starts crying because he’s scared,” Mikasa told Eren.

“Na-uh!” Eren voice full of righteous indignance. “Angry tears! The princess just killed his best friend! She and her kingdom will not get away with this! TO WAR!!!!” Eren’s right hand, which had previously been the assassin, grabbed a handful of mud and slung it at the middle of Mikasa’s chest. It hit point blank. She stared down at herself in shock.

“Kingdom Eren wins the first battle!!” he hooted, flinging his arms up to the sky. But not a moment later, a ball of mud struck him straight in the face.

“Point for team Mikasa,” she said smugly. Smugly!! She hadn’t won the war yet! Eren retreated behind his castle and bided his time, making many many mud balls to fill his arsenal. He grabbed one, popping up when Mikasa would least expect it.

And got another ball of mud to the face!

Eren screamed in rage and threw his mud ball in what was hopefully in Mikasa’s general direction. She screamed and Eren quickly rubbed the sludge from his eyes and looked excitedly to see if he’d gotten a hit. But she was nowhere to been seen now. She was probably behind her castle gather ammunition!

Eren ducked just in time. A mud ball sailed through the air above his head. It wouldn’t be that easy to beat him! Eren chuckled to himself, grasping behind him for another mud ball.

And then suddenly she was there. Time slowed down and every second felt like a century as Eren watched Mikasa skid to a stop, back behind his left flank. She had a mud ball in one hand and another half dozen in her other arm. She swung her hand all the way back behind her left ear and let loose her make-shift cannonball. She was at point blank range.

The impact sent him stumbling back. The mud splattered in a thick coat all over his face, turning into a liquid mask. He hadn’t even had time to raise his hands when the next one hit his stomach, and then another at his right shoulder, and then another to his chest.

“AHHHHHHHH!” He was howling with rage. “AHHHAAHHHHHH!” He stepped forward one hand out, reaching forward, straining his eyes open. “AHHHHHHHAAAH!”

“Eren are you okay-“

“What are you two doing down there?” Eren and Mikasa looked up. Hannes stood above them, expression even more confused and stupid than it usually was.

“It was then,” Eren whispered as if he were narrating an epic myth the like of which were told in taverns by traveling bards. “that the two kingdoms came face to face with their greatest enemy.”

Mikasa looked back at him. “So our kingdoms team up?”

“They are allies.” Eren corrected, then fell back into his narration. “Against the greatest evil known to humanity, besides titans obviously.”

“Obviously.”

“Shut up, now ready your troops.”

“Are you two stuck in there?” Hannes asked, cocking his head stupidly. Eren and Mikasa ignored him, leaning down and picking up mud balls.

“Wait for my signal.” It wasn’t as if they weren’t ready to charge, but he needed to come up with a cool battle speech. Mikasa nodded and zeroed in on Hannes.

“It was on that day,” Eren whispered. “humanity received a grim-“

Mikasa cut him off. “Eren.”

“Okay fine!” He took a deep breath and screamed “ADVANCE!” He scrambled up out of the ditch while hurling mudballs toward Hannes.

Mikasa provided cover from in the ditch, pelting mud at the drunk garrison soldier, not missing a single time. Hannes shrieked when the first mud ball hit him, and continued as the barrage intensified.

Eren threw mud balls as fast and as hard as he could, running toward the soldier, yelling his fiercest battle cry. Hannes was covering his face and when Eren reached him, and the defeated soldier knelt down and raised his hands in the air.

“I surrender!” His uniform was caked with mud. Sludge was dripping through his hair onto his face.

“WE WON!” Eren screamed, jumping up and down.

“I was no match for you and your sister’s power.” Hannes’ shoulders were shaking. Maybe he was crying at his humiliating defeat!

“HELL NO YOU WEREN’T!” Eren pumped his fists in the air. “WE KICKED YOUR ASS!”

Hannes was laughing at him! Eren threw another mud ball for good measure, but that just made Hannes laugh harder.

Mikasa had lifted herself up out of the ditch. She was shaking too. Eren was frozen for a moment, afraid she’s started crying.

But as she ran toward him, Eren realized that far from crying, she was laughing. Laughing so hard she was barely able to stay upright. Her arms were wrapped around her chest like she was still trying to keep from coming apart. But she was coming apart now. Her eyes were screwed shut and she was smiling wider than should have been possible. She looked happy, so very happy.  Happier than he’d ever seen her.

Happier than she’d ever be again.

But that day, their world was the most beautiful thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want to contact me with suggestions or comments about anything really, my tumblr is fitzfire.


	3. The Stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The bullies find Armin and Eren, and MIkasa saves them for the first time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to go back and correct some minor grammatical issues in my other chapters. Seems that after years of not writing I forgot how to use quotation marks properly. Yay! Anyway, this is a great lead into my panicked shout into the void. So if any of you want to beta read for me??????? I would be eternally grateful.

“Eren,” came a whisper.

Eren tried to open his eyes. He could see through the left one, but the right was swollen shut. His insides were the individual ingredients, the meat and vegetables, cut up, mashed around and served as stew. His nose was bleeding and so were his knees. It hurt to breathe.

“Yeah?” he managed to say.

“Are they gone?” He felt Armin shift on the pavement beside him. A whimper of pain. A shudder. another moan.

Gone? Eren pushed himself up onto his hands and knees, trying to ignore the dizziness and nausea that washed over him as soon as he did. They couldn’t be gone. Eren wasn’t finished with them! He tried to get up, but as soon he put weight on his ankle he had to bite back a cried of pain. He fell on his butt and he bit his tongue hard, trying to keep the moans inside. His tailbone? Bruised? Probably. He’d ask his dad.

“Eren I can’t walk.”

Eren looked over at his friend. Armin was laying on his back, tears streaming down in his face. His right knee was tucked up to his chest. He was hugging it so hard it looked as if it would fuse with his torso.

“Armin?” Eren’s chest burned as his breaths came faster. His left eye widened and his right eye continued to throb. What was Armin talking about? He looked fine. A split lips and bloody nose? That wasn’t too bad - or no, no that blood was coming down through his hair and running in rivulets across his face. But his legs looked fine, at least, through his trousers. Holes were ripped at the knees.

No, that wasn’t true either. One of Armin’s knees, the one he was holding to his chest, looked wrong somehow. All swollen up and out of place. Eren looked away.

“Eren,” he drew his gaze back to his friend’s eyes because he couldn’t bear to look anywhere else. “I need you to go back to your house and get your father.” His voice was slow and methodical, as if every word he said was crucial for Eren’s understanding.

“I’m not leaving you here!” Eren instantly regretting yelling, cringing at the white hot pain in his chest.

“I can’t walk.”

“But what if they come back and I’m not there?!”

“You would make any difference anyway.” Armin’s voice wasn’t mean, just honest.

Nausea that rose up in Eren’s chest wasn’t from the pain. “So what?! You want me to abandon you whenever I see you getting picked on!? You’re the one who won’t run away!-”

Armin interrupted him. “Eren, I can't move and I need your dad to fix me.” His voice left no room for argument.

“It will be quicker if you come with me!” Eren struggled to stand. He slowly shifted weight on his right foot. Shooting pains radiated up his leg. He bit his tongue, trying to distract himself. Soon he was tasting hot liquid metal. Blood. He spit it out.

“Eren please!” Armin’s voice wasn’t calm anymore but choked with sobs.

“No! Shut up! I’m not leaving you!” He limped toward Armin.

“You can barely walk!” Armin lay still on his back, looking up toward the sky in a silent plea. He closed his eyes and tears mixed with the blood on his cheeks and he said “please Eren.”

Eren knelt down next to his friend’s head. He slipped one hand, palm up, behind Armin’s back, just between the shoulder blades. Once Eren was satisfied he had the blonde boy properly supported, he used his other hand to take Armin’s right arm and sling it over his shoulder. The other boy’s hand dangled uselessly at Eren’s neck, so Eren grabbed onto it, even though the hold was awkward. Eren moved his other arm, which had been using to support his friend, sliding it all the way around the Armin’s back, hooking his hand around the armpit farthest from him. He pulled Armin to him and let the other boy shift most of his weight onto Eren’s shoulder. Eren leaned forward, getting a knee under him, but as he tried to raise himself and Armin onto that one foot, he lost his balance and they fell backward. Eren felt something break Armin screamed.

“I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry.” Eren bit his lip hard. Armin’s tears were coming faster. Armin tried to nod and forgive Eren outwardly. He wasn’t sure he managed it.

“Okay, okay,” Eren felt the shudders shake. “I’ll go! I’ll get him!”

Armin raised a hand “Wait!” his voice was scared, but Armin didn’t have anything else to say. Eren swallowed, looking back at his friend crumpled on the ground.

“I’ll come back, I promise!”

He needed to get to his father as soon as possible.

He stumbled forward, sucking in a breath every time he put pressure on his bad foot. The first ten steps were hell, the next were worse, but after forty or fifty he had momentum. Momentum, but no direction. He was disoriented and he could barely see through the blood in his right eye. He hadn’t known he’d been bleeding.

But his feet knew the way home, they always would.

His father was home from his business trip and his mother was probably cooking dinner right now, maybe Mikasa was helping her.

Nobody stopped him or bothered to pay any attention. Not that Eren would have been able to tell either way. Hundreds of people could have been lining the street, staring at him trekking his way through. He limped forward like he a single survivor, marching back from an expedition beyond the walls. He felt like he’d fought titans. Fought and lost.

Eren didn’t know how long he staggered. It felt like a lifetime but it might have been more than a thousand years. But he knew when he collapsed against the door that he was home. It opened in a moment and he fell inside.

A wordless cry came from above him. A small figure, Mikasa probably, dropped to their knees and whined helplessly in their throat.

“Eren!” his mother shouted, he felt rather than saw her descending on him. His mother lifted him up into her arms. Her voice was tinged with worry, but she was used to this. Eren often came home knocked about.

This was the first time Mikasa had seen or even heard about bullies. Armin hadn’t wanted her to know, and Eren wouldn’t have told her anyway. She’d thought he was strong, and now what? He didn’t want to meet her eyes but their gazes connected accidentally over his mother’s shoulder. She didn’t even look horrified or disturbed or even scared. Her eyes were wide and her mouth was open, shock slackening her features.

Every step his mother took jostled his insides, like dirt shaken through a sifter, the kind used to pan for gold.

“Armin.” The sound was muffled by his mother’s shoulder.

“Shhhhh, baby.” His mother was reaching the hallway, away from his father! He’d come all this way for father!

He tried again, saying “Armin’s worse!”

“Armin? Why isn’t he with you?”

Eren shook his head into the crook of his mother’s neck. She hugged him tighter, sending pain radiating through his torso. He whimpered and the grip loosened. She began moving again.

His mother bent down and set him onto one of the kitchen chairs. She stared directly into his eyes. “Is Armin alright?”

Eren shook his head frantically.

Eren’s father knelt next to his wife  asked “Where is he?”

Tears welled up in his eyes, he didn’t have a clue.

“How long did it take you to get here?”

He didn’t know.

“What direction did you come from?”

Eren couldn’t even force words out through his ragged breaths. Mikasa was a frightened bird, flitting in and out of the corner of his vision.

“Is he on his way?” At that moment he just wanted his parents to shut up, shut up forever, shut up and find and help and fix Armin because Armin needed someone to come find him, someone that was capable of helping him.

“Mikasa! I need you to back up!” Eren’s mother snapped at the girl clinging to her adoptive mother’s shirt.

“Why is Eren hurt?” Her eyes were wide and black.

“Because he’s reckless!” Eren’s mother turned back to her son. “Why do you insist on fighting? It’s pointless!” She was crying too.

“Carla…” Eren’s father tried to lay a calming hand on his wife’s shoulder but she shook it off.

“You can’t win!” She was almost shouting now.

Eren couldn’t say anything.

“Lay the boy down on the table.” Eren’s father ordered.

“What’s happening?” Mikasa’s voice was too high.

“Go to your room!!” Carla’s words were cutting. Mikasa stepped back.

“Dad no!” Eren screamed. And then was wheezing, the bruising pains in his chest both dull and sharp. With that little outburst, suddenly everything was so much worse. Maybe he shouldn’t have yelled at all if everything was so pointless anyway.

No! He couldn’t stop! Even if not stopping was all he could do. If he didn’t try to stop the bullies, who would?

“Armin-“ nobody was listening to him. “Armin-“ he said again.

“Eren what's wrong?” Mikasa ran up to the table, scrambling onto the only chair that hadn’t been pushed off to the side. She was perched at his feet, staring, mouth opening and closing.

“Mikasa go to your room!” as if Mikasa hadn’t spent enough time in her room.

“Armin’s still out.” Maybe she would understand. His parents weren’t listening. His father was shifting through his bag. His mother was right there with him, holding his hand in a vice-like grip, but she wasn’t paying any attention. She was too busy crying.

Mikasa’s eyes were fixed on his, she was listening.

“Armin.” he said again.

Her brows knitted. “Armin did this?”

Eren shook his head but his mother said yes.

Mikasa’s eyes darkened.

“Armin gets bullied,” she said. Eren’s father started his examination. He applied pressure to Eren’s chest, moving up and down and right to left, trying to get some idea of the damage. “Eren tries to help.” Eren felt close to coming out of his skin. Every breath, deep enough to shatter everything inside, splintering outward. Because if he didn’t burst, his father was going to crush Eren beneath his fingers.

 “Armin’s like this too?” Eren heard her voice but couldn’t make sense of tone or pitch. He was focused on biting back a scream.

“Likely worse,” Eren’s father said, but didn’t stop his examination. “Some of his ribs are bruised, but I doubt anything’s broken.”

“Thank god!” Eren’s mother breathed a sigh of relief.

“What else hurts?” his father asked him.

“Armin-“ Eren grated out. Thankfully, his father took his hands off his chest. Eren tried to lean forward toward Mikasa, but his whole body ache so much that he had to let his head fall back down on the table. “Please-“ he begged

There were a few moments of silence as Eren’s father continued his examination. In that time, Mikasa seemed to make her decision.

 “I’ll find him!” she announced. Eren heard her jumping off the chair.

“Mikasa!” Eren’s mother turned toward her adopted daughter. “Didn’t I tell you to go back to your room? I can't be worrying about you too!”

“Your ankle looks swollen.” Eren’s father lifted his leg and pushed his trouser leg up.

Eren heard Mikasa footsteps grow farther and farther away.

“Mikasa!” Eren’s mother cried

 

* * *

 

He was lying in his own bed now, completely alone. His leg was splinted. He held a thin piece of steak, fetched from the cold pantry, pressed to his eye. His mother had been saving it for dinner in four days’ time, to see her husband off on his next trip to the interior. They had money enough to bargain for more at the market, but that wasn’t the point.

His father had ordered bed rest for his bruised ribs. Only after he’d seen Eren tucked in did he begin to think about Armin. What made Eren so much more important than Armin? Eren hated his father for thinking like that.

No, that really wasn’t true. He was frustrated, but he didn't hate his father. Regardless, Armin was alone right now and Eren hadn’t been able to do anything to help him.  

He hoped Mikasa had.

Would she be able to find him? Armin insisted they never tell her about the secret places they played. But if the bullies could locate them, maybe Mikasa could too? But the bullies had lived in Shingashina their whole lives. Mikasa had only been here two months and she’d barely been outside the house.

It had been hours.

Eren was still crying.

Time passed on like a Military Police officer would pass through a border town, distantly, unfeelingly, disdainfully.

Eren didn’t care what his father said about bed rest. He was getting up. Putting weight on his ankle was awkward with splint, but the shot his father had given him had dulled the pain. Even breathing shallowly was tolerable.

He limped out of his room.

Where were his mother and father? Out looking for Armin? They had to be.

Eren wished he had the crutches his father promised him. He could get moving so much faster, and he wouldn’t be dealing with the little jolts of pain radiating up his right leg. That’s probably where his dad was, looking for crutches, not for Armin.

Was Armin still out there?

Eren wiped away his tears. He was going to find Armin. He’d search for however long it took.

He pushed out the door, not looking back.

The sun was low in the sky, about to be gorged on by the walls. The shadows were lengthening, beginning to douse the entire town in a blackness. The world was so much darker then it was bright. The town had maybe, what, eight hours of sunlight at the most? Though, in the winter, only about seven or six hours. That wasn’t even a third of the day. The rest was night.

Let the darkness come, it wasn’t going to stop Eren. His eyes would adjust, wouldn’t they? It was only a matter of time.

He didn’t know where he was going but he’d already decided to go anyway. Where had they been before the bullies had come? They’d been playing explorers, running in ditches and alleyways, making maps detailing the dangers lurking and the sights to see. It seemed hopeless, they’d started in a clearing and ended in a backstreet? Which clearing? Which backstreet?

He’d start with the clearings nearest to their houses, then he’d go to everyone in Shingashina if he had too.

His shadow was cast out so far that he couldn’t even see his head. His eyes were wide and focused on the ground. The rest of the world was a hazy orange-red and inky blackness. Houses were sleeping monsters, neighbors were phantoms, ditches were bottomless lakes. He was a ghost.

The streets were quiet. But a scraping sound a little farther ahead caught his attention. Eren looked up. There was another ghost, slowly making its way toward him. It was dragging something behind it.

But once she emerged from the shadows of the monsters lining the streets, the remnants of light lit on her face like the sun was made only to let her be seen. The girl’s hair was falling into her face, but she took one steady step after another.

“Mikasa?” Eren shouted, then winced.

The girl looked up. “Eren?”

“Where’s Armin?”

“I’m here.” Came a weak voice from behind little girl.

Oh,

Oh, praise the king and all his lords!

Thank you.

Eren started running. It hurt so much but he didn’t care. It would hurt more in the morning when his father’s injection had worn off but he didn’t care. Mikasa was carrying a makeshift stretcher fashioned together from planks of wood and leather straps. Armin must have told her how to do it. Armin was so smart.

Eren fell to his knees as Mikasa set the planks down. He was crying again. He hugged his friend, tighter than he should have, but that didn’t occur to him. All he could think of was how happy he was to see that Armin was okay.

“Are you okay?” he had to know

“Yeah.” Armin said, voice soft but strong.

Mikasa stood a little apart.

“My dad’s not home. I don’t know where he is!” Eren cried.

“It’s okay.” Armin reached out a hand and hugged him back.

“Eren?” the black haired boy raised his head and met Mikasa’s eyes. She looked like she wanted something, but Eren didn’t have anything to give her.

“Thank you?” Eren had never been good at saying nice things, but Mikasa smiled, the way she had in the rain weeks ago, so he supposed it was enough. He smiled back.

He squeezed his friend harder.

“Eren-“ Armin protested, but he was laughing too.

“We need to get him in the house,” Mikasa said, kneeling next to her two friends.

“Mikasa’s right,” Armin said. Since when did they agree on anything?

“Okay, okay.” Eren stood, he looked over at Mikasa. “Do you want me to help you?”

Mikasa perked up, shaking her head. “No, I can do this.” She must have been tired, she’d been pulling Armin and the planks for how long? She pulled Armin forward with surer steps.

Eren flitted back and forth from Armin to Mikasa, but soon a false step sent his ankle screaming. He collapsed to the ground, whimpering. His ribs shifted, he could feel that, but there was hardly any pain. Mikasa almost dropped Armin and the planks, but she managed to set them down before running to Eren’s side.

“No,” Eren wheezed. “Armin-“

Mikasa stood up, looking all around. Nobody stopped, nobody even paused as they shuffled off to wherever they were going. Eren’s parents were nowhere in sight.

“Please-“

Mikasa turned away and picked up Armin’s stretcher. The scraping resumed.

Eren lay on the street alone.

The weird thing was that he didn’t really want to get up. Lifting his head was about all he could manage. He saw the advancing shadow of one of the monsters to his left. It was slowly climbing up his body, centimeter by centimeter, devouring him. Soon all there would be was darkness.

He closed his eyes.

The wind was nice, a little cold, but nice. It felt almost fresh like he imagined the air outside the walls. The street was warm from baking in the sun all day. He turned his face toward it, his cheek and good eye touching the street. It should have been disgusting. Dirt and vermin and horse feces should have grossed him out. But he wasn’t the kind of boy who was afraid of bugs and a little bit of dirt. It occurred to him that this earth and this dirt were the same earth and dirt that extended beyond the walls. The same world, his world.

He rose to his hands and knees.

“Eren?”

Mikasa stood next to him.

He spread figures out on the road.

“I’m fine.”

He rose to his feet, ignoring the pain in his leg.

“Do you want me to help you?” she asked.

 “No, I can do this.”

He stepped forward. Mikasa followed behind.

 

* * *

 

 

Mikasa had drug Eren’s bed into the spare room so that Armin and Eren could lie together. She’d found one of the kitchen chairs and pulled in as well for herself. They waited.  The sky grew darker. Mikasa lit a candle.

“Mikasa?” Armin asked.

She’d been staring at her hands, but now she raised her head.

“You were talking about the stars before Eren came.”

“Stars?” Eren asked.

“The lights in the sky,” Armin explained.

“The sun?”

“No, the little ones at night.”

The candle flickered, casting light over the three children.

Mikasa pointed out the window, Eren up strained to see.

“That big one is the north star,” she said. “When you walk toward it, you know you’re going north.”

“You can use it to orient yourself.” Armin’s eyes were shining, thinking of all the ways this new knowledge could be put to use in his plans.

“Father used to tell me that if I ever got lost, all I had to do was look up and I’d be able to find my way back home.” Eren turned his head toward her. She never talked about her parents. He was afraid she would start crying, but she wasn’t. She was smiling, and maybe it was small, but it was there.”

“Just walk forward when it’s behind you, and we’re headed home,” Armin said.

“But what if nobodies here?” Eren asked. Armin’s forehead creased but Mikasa understood.

“Then we’ll all stay together,” her voice was strong. “and the stars will light the way.”

Armin smiled at her. Eren wondered what had happened while he was lying in bed that had made them friends. Armin’s eyes were creasing at the sides in the way they only did when he looked back at Eren. He was a little jealous but mostly happy. Hurting and aching and unable to move, but happy.

Eren’s parents did return that night. Armin suggested that his mother had gone with his father to visit a patient, or maybe they were still looking for Armin. Mikasa and Eren nodded, trusting him. Long after the candle burnt out they were staring at each other, because their eyes had adjusted to the dark. The stars were bright enough that night to see by, and when the sun rose again over the little town at the Southernmost point of the world they knew, it was just the three of them. Two dreaming of the world beyond and the other hoping they could stay like this forever.

The three of them sat and waited for their wounds to heal. Maybe they weren’t waiting in vain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~finish
> 
> Thank you to everyone who left kudos and posted comments!! You are the real MVPs


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